October 2025 Grocery Challenge

JingsMyBucket

TravelCrystal. After shopping at Lidl today there is a huge long list of possible vegetables in my Lidl Plus app. Even more so than last time! I’ll review them again with Mr. Jings and see what he wants. 

I have 3 spends to declare for today. 

£15.10 at Lidl for 30 eggs (5.38), 2 punnets of red & yellow tomatoes (1.98), loose carrots (28p), 2 packs of oatcakes (1.38), bananas (70p), brand name BBQ sauce (2.99), and a bar of chocolate (2.39). 

£23.32 at M & S for strawberries (4.00), riper bananas (83p), clementines (1.40), 4 pints of organic whole milk to make yoghurt (2.40), 1 luxury yoghurt (1.10), mayo (1.40), soy sauce (1.00), sourdough (4.25), a couple bakery items (2.85), pearl barley (1.10), and compost bags (3.00). I was actually overcharged on several items. I’m debating raising the issue next time I’m there. 

£3.62 at Iceland on Boursin cheese (2.50) and Philly garlic and herb cream cheese (1.12). The 125g containers are half off right now in the sale. In case anyone needs to stock up for breakfasts or cheesecake baking. 

£340.58 / £325 spent. £15.58 overspent.  

I’m over and my focus now is to the spending as low as possible for the rest of the month. I’ve been pulling out of our freezer and pantry for meats and things. We’ll be okay for fruit until this coming weekend. I’ll head back to Lidl then as well to get the free veg. 

mandco

I’ve totally lost track this month so just going to try and keep spends under control till the end of the month.  Dividing my monthly budget daily gives me roughly £258 till the end of the month so aim is to stay within that - might be tight with 1/2 term and Halloween but possible with some creative meals & a strict shopping list 
Do need some top up bits but trying to avoid the supermarket till the weekend however I am debating the chicken deal in Sainsbury that’s starting tomorrow? 

carboot_karaoke

Afternoon all,

I have an extra spend from the weekend to declare £8.61 in total for the missing ingredients for Sun-Tues dinners. These were; veg, coleslaw, pasta sauce and bread. 

Were entertaining tomorrow so i'm expecting a chunky cost to be added when l buy the ingredients. 

Still doing better than expected this month

New totals 

Grocery Budget £220.06 / £400
Bulk Fund £40.13 / £50
Grocery Challenge £260.19 / £450

LotsOfTea

I had a big delivery which came to £156.24 today so I've gone over for the month but I did stock up on a few things that we use a lot that were on offer so next month should be better. In fact, next month I'm going to concentrate on eating up all the stuff that's been in freezer way too long so hopefully it'll be a lot better! 

£313.94/£300

TravelCrystal

I have no intention of going to the shops again this week for a very good reason.
Sunday we decided to go out for lunch, something I haven’t done for more than a year. Spent £35.98 on the lunch, £12.99 for the wine to go with it and tea and cake for £7.50. It was okay but I could have had a better meal at home and much cheaper. Hey ho

Toilet spray in Asda on Saturday 98p

And yesterday thought I would look in the new Iceland freezer shop that’s been there for months but I have kept away.
Didn’t mind spending £5.43 on 5 x utterly butterly’s and YS rolls

Total spend this week £62.88

Total so far this month £139.78/£200

T.C

K9sandFelines

I've got some spends to report. I think I've missed one at Aldi but not sure 🤔

Today £17.00 at Bread and Butter ( I got a family bag, as I've  not been for weeks)

£8.04 spent at Home Bargains - this was a mix of bits - gravy granules, passata, tomatoes and I can't remember what else 

£4.67 spent at Tesco. We got alot of bang for our buck, and used some vouchers also.

£29.71

lushlifesaver

Last shop of the challenge for us and I found I had a little stash of cashback from my health insurance at the employer I leave on Friday so it's cost me £58 not £90! 

will update my signature now and start to look at November(!)

thriftwizard

Well, the last of our "weekend" family guests has just left - as OH has just pointed out, we've had people here for 6 days - and I've sat down to tally up the damage, convinced I'd have well & truly busted the budget. However, it seems not! Having had to miss the market last Friday, so having shopped (and cooked) ahead, the total, excluding one restaurant meal which has obliterated the "entertainments" fund for the rest of the year, came to just £82.32, putting me at £372.89, which would mean that with a savage tightening of the belt & eating out of the freezer & allotment, I could probably have come in under my original target of £400. I'm not inclined (and don't actually need) to do that, however, & will be very happy if I can keep it under £450. We'll be eating up leftovers for the next few days anyway!

At one point we were 10 adults, 3 small children, a dog & 2 cats. Mayhem but also a bit magical - just DS3 missing. The slight puzzle though is that it wasn't any kind of special occasion, anyone's birthday or anything; they just love a good get-together & don't seem to need a reason! 

diminua

£170.51 spent, which feels an OK place to be. I have some carrots and cucumber to use up so the plan is to make carrot and lentil curry tomorrow (adapting a dhal recipe I've found online) and maybe rice and cucumber to go with it. That should do more than one meal with bread as well.  

t14cy_t

£61/£100 so far this month. went to a community pantry yesterday so that has helped alot, also olio has been good this week! fridge, freezers and larder are all well stocked. phew.